| Alex is Head of the Arthur Cox Projects and Energy Group. He has a broad based infrastructure and utilities practice, with particular expertise in the energy sector. Alex has almost fifteen years energy regulatory, transactional and major projects experience in Ireland and Australia and has been centrally involved in the liberalisation of the energy markets in both jurisdictions. He has extensive experience acting for government, regulators, financiers, market participants and customers, both on the island of Ireland and internationally, and combines broad industry expertise with a strong background in energy regulation and reform. Prior to joining Arthur Cox, Alex spent six years in the Projects Group of a leading Australian law firm. | Practice Areas |
Alex’s experience includes:
- Conventional Power Projects, including the 343MW CCGT Huntstown Phase I Power Project (first IPP in Ireland); the 401.5MW CCGT Huntstown Phase II Power Project; the 445MW CCGT Whitegate Power Project; the 280MW Arklow Power Project; and the acquisition of a majority interest in the 382MW CCGT Tynagh Power Project.
- Renewable Power Projects including the €400M Dublin Waste to Energy PPP Project; the arc21 Waste to Energy & MBT PPP Project; the 330MW Oriel Offshore Windfarm; the 1,100MW Codling Banks Offshore Windfarm; the 520MW Arklow Banks Offshore Windfarm; EcoWindPower in relation to the development of almost 200MW of onshore wind projects; the 350MW ALISE Co-generation Project (NSW); Wyeth on the development of CHP Plants at its Askeaton, Newbridge and Grange Castle Facilities; and NIEH on the establishment of a £250M Renewable Energy Fund.
- Electrical Interconnectors, including advising Moyle Interconnector Limited on all aspects of its ownership, operation and funding of the 500MW HVDC Moyle Interconnector; and EirGrid on the funding of the 500MW HVDC East West Interconnector and a bidder on the Basslink Interconnector Project (Australia).
- Upstream and downstream gas including advising the State in connection with the Corrib Gas Field, funders and market participants in relation to the Seven Heads Gas Field; market participants in relation to exploration acreage; Premier Transmission on its ownership, operation and funding of the Scotland to Northern Ireland Gas Pipeline; the CER & NIAUR on the Common Arrangements for Gas; the CER in relation to downstream gas regulation including establishment of an all-island system operator; implementation of Entry/Exit; development of the Unified Code of Operations and licensing of gas storage; and market participants on gas storage contracts.
- Energy Market Reform, including advising government, regulators and market participants in relation to the implementation of the Common Arrangements for Gas (Ireland and NI); the Single Electricity Market (Ireland and NI); MAE (Ireland); BETTA (GB); the National Electricity Market (Australia); Gas Entry/Exit (Ireland); NTS Exit Reforms (GB); and Gas Retail Market Implementation (Australia).
- Energy Sector Regulation including, in Ireland, drafting and negotiating regulatory consents for upstream oil and gas production; downstream gas transportation (Unified Code of Operations); regulatory consents governing offshore windfarms; Gas Storage Licence; the Biofuels Mineral Oil Relief Scheme II; and transposition of elements of the Cogeneration Directive.
- Energy Trading Arrangements including physically and financially settled wholesale and retail electricity contracts (Ireland, NI and Australia); establishment of IIPEX (Ireland); wholesale and retail gas contracts (Ireland, NI and GB); gas storage contracts (Ireland and GB); gas capacity contracts (Ireland, NI and GB); electricity interconnector capacity contracts (NI); and emissions trading arrangements (Ireland).
- PPP/PFI including advising bidders and awarding authorities in Ireland and Northern Ireland on projects in the roads, health, communications, waste and energy sectors. Major recent projects include advising the successful bidder on the €400M Dublin Waste to Energy PPP Project (FT.com Innovative lawyers commendation 2008; Finance Magazine Project Finance Deal of the Year 2008) and the awarding authority on each of the arc21 Energy from Waste and MBT PPP Project and the Metropolitan Area Networks PPP Project (part of the regional broadband strategy).
- Telecommunications projects including advising Crown Castle UK in respect of the rollout of the Hutchison 3 network in Ireland; Broadband Communications on the development and operation of the T-50 network in Dublin; DCMNR on the Metropolitan Area Networks PPP Project; and Crown Castle International in connection with its mobile telecommunications infrastructure business in Australia.
- Corporatisation and Privatisation including in respect of the Ministry of Electricity and Water (Bahrain), TransGrid (Australia), Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority (Australia), ACT Electricity and Water Corporation (Australia); and the Government Supplies Department (Fiji).
- Mergers & Acquisitions including Viridian Group in respect of its £1.62B acquisition by Arcapita; the acquisition of a majority interest in Tynagh Energy by GE; the acquisition of EcoWindPower by Viridian; the disposal by DONG Energy Generation A/S of a majority interest in the Dublin Waste to Energy Project to Covanta Holdings; the disposal of Broadband Communications; the acquisition by Crown Castle International of mobile telecommunications infrastructure networks in Australia from Vodafone and Cable & Wireless Optus; the acquisition of multiple renewable energy projects in Ireland and the disposal of a number of CHP Projects.
- Energy Sector Financing including advising EirGrid on the €150M Phase I funding of the 500MW HVDC East West Interconnector; BNP Paribas on the £100M funding of the Kilroot Clean Coal & FGD Project; the €400M funding of the Dublin Waste to Energy Project (Finance Magazine Project Finance Deal of the Year 2008); Viridian in connection with £1,877M in acquisition and credit facilities; Viridian on the €200M funding of the 343MW Huntstown Power Project (first major IPP project financed in Ireland); the financing arrangements for the 500MW HVDC Moyle Interconnector; the €37M financing of the acquisition of Irish Power Systems by Bioverda; the US$100M financing of DNO in respect of its interest in the Seven Heads Gas field; and the financing of various small scale wind projects.
Education
- Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice, 1995, UTS
- BComm, LL B, 1993, University of New South Wales
Professional
- Admitted as a solicitor in Northern Ireland (2004)
- Admitted as a solicitor in Ireland (2003)
- Admitted as a barrister and solicitor in New Zealand (2002)
- Admitted as a legal practitioner in New South Wales (1995)
Published Material
- Co-author of the Irish Chapter of “Electricity Regulation”, Global Competition Review, 2003 – 2007.
- Co-author of the Irish Chapter of “Gas Regulation”, Global Competition Review, 2003 – 2007.
- Co-author of “Public Private Partnership in the Irish Road and Rail Sectors”, Transportation Finance Review 2005.
- Co-author of “Public Service Obligations in the Electricity and Gas Sectors” [2004] IELTR 33.
- Contributor to the Energy Ireland Yearbook, 2003 – 2007 to the European Electricity Review 2004 and the European Energy Review 2006 – 2007.
Contact MeAlex McLean
Partner
Arthur Cox
Earlsfort Centre
Earlsfort Terrace
Dublin 2
Ireland
t: +353 (0)1 618 0546